Following up on our BlackBerry PlayBook Review yesterday, today we were finally able to see the paired BlackBerry Smartphone/PlayBook experience, which allows you to use your PlayBook as a big screen for your BlackBerry phone. The BlackBerry bridge is carried out via bluetooth, and the means for pairing is really simple. You’ll download a BlackBerry Bridge app onto your phone from App World. On your tablet, you’ll tap the options icon on the top right corner of the PlayBook (the gear) and from there will be an option to display a barcode. You’ll scan the barcode of your PlayBook with your BlackBerry and that will pair the two devices. From there, you can run BlackBerry Messenger, your calendar, emails (and maybe more??) from your PlayBook. Check out the video above to see it in action! (note, we do the BBM pairing at the very end).

CrackBerry.com‘s feed sponsored by ShopCrackBerry.com. Video Demo: Pairing your BlackBerry Smartphone with BlackBerry PlayBook via BlackBerry Bridge

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Nielsen has released some new smartphone data for the past six months, and Android’s dominating growth is continuing. From June, 2010 to November, 2010, Android was responsible for 40% of new smartphone acquisitions, blowing both Apple and RIM out of the water.

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Android responsible for 40% of new U.S. smartphone acquisitions, now holds 26% of overall marketshare

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CrackBerry.com‘s feed sponsored by ShopCrackBerry.com. Best of Smartphone Experts, 2 Jan 2011

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Did you get a new BlackBerry for the holidays?  Not sure just where to start? Not to worry we’re here to help.

On behalf of the CrackBerry community, we freely admit we’re addicted to our BlackBerry smartphones. We stand by our faithful Berry’s for what they do best, and simply there is no better way to communicate and keep up-to-date with the world at-large.

Similarly, there is no better resource than CrackBerry.com for new applications, devices, accessories, and how-to guides about our favorite smartphone. Beginning in early 2011, we’ll also have loads of information on the all-new BlackBerry PlayBook tablet. It’s going to be an exciting year for both you and CrackBerry.com.

You’re already familiar with BlackBerry’s unsurpassed ability to communicate – Research In Motion mastered mobile email and security a decade ago – but what else can your BlackBerry do for you? We’ve put together our best app recommendations, how-to guides and all around BlackBerry goodness for your viewing pleasure.

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CrackBerry.com‘s feed sponsored by ShopCrackBerry.com. Get a BlackBerry Smartphone for Christmas? Here are some essential tips, applications and accessories to help get you started

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CrackBerry.com‘s feed sponsored by ShopCrackBerry.com. Best of Smartphone Experts, 26 Dec 2010

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CrackBerry.com‘s feed sponsored by ShopCrackBerry.com. Best of Smartphone Experts, 19 Dec 2010

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While the BlackBerry PlayBook and new QNX-based OS have been getting a lot of positive attention in the techsphere since getting announced back in September, it hasn’t been quite the same on the phone side for RIM. Despite BlackBerry 6 offering numerous incremental feature improvements and RIM continuing to post their biggest quarterly earnings reports in the company’s history, a lot of the tech press has been beating up on good ole BlackBerry as of late.

But over at LapTop Mag, the results are in and once again the BlackBerry users have spoken, as the BlackBerry Torch 9800 has won their Reader’s Choice Award as the top smartphone of 2010. In a poll with over 11,000 respondents, the Torch beat out the Evo 4G, iPhone 4, Droid X, Palm Pre Plus, Epic 4G, Samsung Focus, and T-Mo My Touch. With the Torch lacking HD video recording and not getting a boost in CPU speed or screen resolution as compared to previous generation BBs, I’m not sure its *totally* deserving of the win this year, but what the heck, we’ll take it!

Whether you agree or disagree with Laptop’s results, I’m curious to see among CrackBerry readers which new BlackBerry Smartphone of 2010 is the preferred choice. Cast your vote on what you think was the best (whether you own it or not) and we’ll see which holds the true CrackBerry crown!

CrackBerry.com‘s feed sponsored by ShopCrackBerry.com. BlackBerry Torch wins Laptops Readers Choice Award as Best Smartphone of 2010

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To help smartphone shoppers understand what they’re looking at, we offer definitions of the most commonly used specifications, and explain why they are important.

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I have a rather huge audience over on ZDNet so I posted an article I have been thinking about for a while regarding the Nokia N8 and the fact that Nokia put technology and capability in it that is not matched with any other smartphone today. You can read my uncompromising Nokia N8 article and see some of the idiotic discussions that people make who have likely never even tried the Nokia N8.

I am currently using my Nokia N8 and Samsung Galaxy Tab, both on T-Mobile, and have no plans to change to anything else for the foreseeable future. The Nokia E7 does look sweet and if I do anything it will be move to that and pass my N8 to someone else in my family.

Do you agree or disagree with my take on the fabulous N8 hardware specifications and functions?

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CrackBerry.com‘s feed sponsored by ShopCrackBerry.com. Best of Smartphone Experts, 12 Dec 2010

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CrackBerry.com‘s feed sponsored by ShopCrackBerry.com. Best of Smartphone Experts, 5 Dec 2010

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There have been lots of rumors and speculation pounding the Internet about how Angry Birds developer Rovio is making the transition from mobile to console.  It has been confirmed by the BBC in England that Angry Birds developer Rovio is making versions of the game for the Microsoft Xbox 360, Sony PlayStation3, and the Nintendo Wii game consoles.

Quote:

Its Chief Executive Peter Vesterbacka says that kind of switch will become more and more common.

He said: “The smartphone gaming platform is actually turning out to be the biggest and most played out there.

So it’s starting to beat the traditional games on consoles and PCs.”

Rovio Chief Executive Peter Vesterbacka didn’t go into much detail and was definitly not giving any clues as to when we should expect the game to appear on the console platforms.

Vesterbacka also said that there are plans for Angry Birds 2, and it will be a different kind of game featuring the same characters.  ”Let’s say that you will see a lot more of the pigs,” he revealed. ”The pigs will be a lot more active than just being slingshotted at by birds.”

He certainly considers the mobile platforms a very competitive gaming platform, stating; “The smartphone gaming platform is actually turning out to be the biggest and most played out there,”.

Rovio announced recently that it is developing a lighter version of the game for “lower end” Android devices after many users experienced problems running the game.  Many people have also been asking for a paid version without the current overload of advertising, however I’m guessing this won’t be a priority as the current revenue stream must be huge.

Source: Yahoo News

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For people who are interested in checking out Android without taking a big financial risk on a phone, the $100 Zio may be a good choice.

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CrackBerry.com‘s feed sponsored by ShopCrackBerry.com. Best of Smartphone Experts, 21 Nov 2010

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Spb Software develops some fantastic software for various mobile platforms, including Windows Mobile, Symbian, iOS, Android, BlackBerry, webOS, and Maemo. Every year they conduct a survey of the mobile space and this year they offered to provide us with some feedback on what my readers think about various topics through a dedicated link. Last year, their survey had 11,000 respondents with some interesting results. Please take part in the survey this year by following this survey link.

Some of the issues covered by the survey and questions asked of you will include the following topics:

• Do the users really care about the underlying mobile OS platform?
• iPhone vs Android: which one captures the users’ interest?
• Are the media tablets as popular as they are believed to be?
• How much are the users ready to pay for the apps they are using?

If you do participate in the survey you will be entered into a contest where one lucky person will win a mobile device of their choice, up to $1,000 in value from a site like Amazon or expanses. A second place winner will receive $100 in accessories from Smartphone Experts’ store. Both first and second place winners will also get a $100 gift certificate for SPB Software apps while a third place winner will also get this $100 certificate. The survey is available from now until 7 December at 8:00 pm GMT. Results of the survey will be posted on 20 December. You can check out the full press release.

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CrackBerry.com‘s feed sponsored by ShopCrackBerry.com. Best of Smartphone Experts, 14 Nov 2010

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Walmart may be trying to get ahead of the Black Friday bargains with this one. From the 17th through the 25th, a purchase of any smartphone from HTC, Motorola, Samsung, LG or Blackberry will net the purchaser a $100 Walmart gift card. With Walmart carrying Android devices supported by all four major carriers, it may be a good time to cash in!

[via Droid Life]

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The behemoth HTC HD7 has some impressive specs like a 4.3-inch screen, 16GB of storage, and a 5-megapixel camera with 720p video capture, but it does not support T-Mobile’s speedy HSPA+ network.

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For us avid Android fans who frequent the various Android blogs among the community, there is no denying that Android is rapidly growing and according to Analyst firm Gartner, the open source OS from Google has increased 628% since the Q3 2009 results and when a OS puts up numbers like you see in the chart above, there is no questioning how Android got there. Android now claims the number 2 spot with 25.5% of the mobile OS market. Insane huh?

With Android resting comfortably above Apple’s iOS which is trailing eating up 16.7%, it looks Android has sights one the number one spot which is Symbian with 36.6% of the mobile market, while at the moment that may seem like quite a lead, keep in mind that the busiest shopping days of the year has yet to arrive and with the various Android handsets to choose from that are soon to arrive, we’re sure we can catch up to the prey.

Gartner

On another note, Q3 2010 produced and record sales of 81 million smartphones and ask you can see with the launch of the Samsung Galaxy S device Samsung took 2nd among the leading manufacturers as they sold over 71.7 million devices which is an 18.2% increase from their Q3 2009 numbers and the Android OS claimed 6.6 million of Samsung’s 71.7 million total.

“Smartphone OS providers have entered a period of accelerated platform evolution, stimulated by more regular product releases, new platform entrants and new device types,” said Roberta Cozza, principal research analyst at Gartner.  “Any platform that fails to innovate quickly — either through a vibrant multi-player ecosystem or clear vision of a single controlling entity — will lose developers, manufacturers, potential partners and ultimately users.”

With every increase in Android’s numbers, another drops and we’re looking forward to Gartner’s next release. If you’re looking to read up more on these numbers, be sure and hit up the source link. Anyone think we could be at the top soon?

Via: Gartner, Yahoo Finance

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CrackBerry.com‘s feed sponsored by ShopCrackBerry.com. Best of Smartphone Experts, 7 Nov 2010

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This one has been popping up around the net the past couple of days but I figured we’d save it for the weekend…

If a picture is worth a thousand words, then this comic strip from C-Section Comics is more like a 20,000 word thesis on the smartphone consumer market. It’s funny, cuz well… it’s mainly true  

CrackBerry.com‘s feed sponsored by ShopCrackBerry.com. Weekend Humor: How Smartphone Users See Each Other

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According to an article on the Wall Street Journals Blog it does. Lets take a look at these charts for a minute.

I can honestly say I am not overly surprised by this graph. iPhone users have a much higher credit card spending habit then any one else. Statistically of course. If we take into consideration that time and time again we call the iPhone a “Status symbol”. This means that not only is it a status symbol but the users of iPhone spend more money directly related to status objects. I have no data to back up what they are buying with their credit cards, but I can assume they are buying more “stuff” to show they have money. Blackberry isn’t to surprising since a lot of Blackberry users are business people. I bet if they looked at the spending of Blackberry users corporate cards it would be a much higher figure. Then here we come. Averaging $5,330 a month. Which is still a lot of money per month. Then windows down here at the bottom. I can speculate their numbers are the lowest because of the lack of devices that have been put out, and lack of popularity.

Now this graph threw me for a loop. How on earth does the average monthly bill of an iPhone become lower then any other platform? My bill for unlimited everything on T-Mobile is $79.99 plus tax. I believe the same plan on AT&T is 99.99. What is going on with our Android bills? I’d think it had to do with being able to charge application purchases to our phone bill, but you can’t do that with Windows or Blackberry.What are do we as Android users have on our accounts that is making our monthly bill so much more. The study didn’t account for family plans with multiple devices on one account and it didn’t factor in Corporate accounts either. This could explain the cost difference. Anyone out there have a high Android bill? What are you paying for?

Just some interesting stuff to think about. Are we cheaper then iPhone users? Do we care about “Status Symbols”? I don’t think so. We just like to hang out.

Source: blogs.wsj

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DROID users, if you received this text, you’ve been officially invited to the online “Android Smartphone Workshop” hosted by Verizon Wireless on November 8th. This will be especially beneficial for those new to the world of Android who haven’t yet gotten the swing of things on their powerful new smartphone. Best of all, it’s free of charge!

Apparently, VZW customers can also attend workshops at various carrier stores. Just plug in your zip code and see if a workshop is being held near you!

VZW inviting DROID users to Android Smartphone workshop November 8th

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